CONTENTS:
1.       A Word from the Chairman
2.       EDRC News
2.1.    Civil Society Project
2.1.1. Academic Forum
2.1.2. Publication of the second Civil Society Project Report
2.1.3. Civil Society Project Conference
2.1.4. Civil Society Project CD
2.1.5. The Third Year of the Project
2.2.    MESA Seminars
2.3.    Jean Monnet Research Project on Inter-Cultural
          Dialogue
2.4.    Europe Close to You Fair
3.       European Documentation Centre (EDC) 
3.1.    Accessions List 1st April - 31st August 2006
3.2.    Accessions List 1st September - 26th October 2006
4.       News and Events
4.1.    Malta
4.2.    Europe
4.3.    International
5.       Grants and Courses

1. A WORD FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Dear Readers and friends of the EDRC,

As we begin a new academic year, we see ever increasing numbers of students reading European Studies and welcome all new students. We also congratulate all those about to graduate this year, both our B. European studies and our M.A. European studies students. I wish you all good luck, and say : “Keep in touch!”, and call on us when you need to.

This last year has been a busy one also on the Project front. The Civil Society Project has led to the publication of a Report on The Family, Law, religion and Society in The EU and Malta. This was well received in many quarters. We followed it up with a national conference in September that attracted over 150 participants, and led to fruitful workshop discussions. Our overseas speakers added their views to the mix, if anything supporting the general conclusions of the Report. The Report and the papers presented at the conference are now to be found on a CD that has already been circulated world-wide to all Documentation Centres, Centres of Excellence, Jean Monnet Professors, and to the European Institutions. Well done all the contributors and participants. If I may say so, I think we have together made a real contribution to debate and to solution-finding both in Malta, and at European level, not forgetting the Euro-Med dimension and the inter-cultural dialogue perspective....... Therefore…..

APPEAL FOR YOUR SUPPORT
This Newsletter is being circulated more widely than usual so as to raise awareness as to the work of the EDRC, and also with a particular aim. For the EDRC to continue with the Civil Society Project in the coming two years, we need your support, financial also. Having benefited from part-funding by the Commission for the first three years of the Project (we produced a Report in the first year on Discrimination, Inclusion and Equality and will produce a Report this year on Business and Ethics), we now need to bear the full cost for the next two years. Please consider supporting the Civil Society Project by offering a sponsorship of whatever amount. We will acknowledge it in all Project documentation and outcomes, such as the Report and the CD. 

Meanwhile, we have heard that the Commission will be supporting the Malta European Studies Association to carry out some new activities this year. The agreement should arrive soon, and MESA members are urged to use the events that will be organised to renew their contacts among themselves and keep up the esprit de corps and working network among us all. Another project on inter-cultural dialogue and citizenship is far advanced and the EDRC contribution, as co-ordinator of the Mediterranean group, will be finalized by December. This will form part of a book to be published in Italy and launched in Padova amidst much pomp and ceremony in March of next year to coincide with the EU 50 year celebrations.

You will see from this Newsletter just how much has been done, never in easy circumstances, in the EDRC and MESA in the last year, and for this we have to thank in particular Doris Mangion and Joanne Muscat. Both will be becoming mums (in Joanne’s case for the first time) around Spring of next year….which means that we have to get through a lot before that but we all congratulate them I am sure, and look forward to these happy events….although I might have something to say about their timing! Good luck to them and their growing families.

Happy reading, and as always keep your comments coming. We are always on the look out to improve this Newsletter service. I remind you that should you wish us to consider publishing a short paper that you have written, you are to send it to Doris Mangion, or if it be but an idea or concept to get in touch directly with me to discuss it and take it further.

I look forward to seeing you all again this coming year.

PETER G. XUEREB
CHAIRMAN
27th October 2006

2. EDRC NEWS

2.1. CIVIL SOCIETY PROJECT 

2.1.1. Academic Forum
An Academic Forum titled: The Euro-Med Partnership and the Role of Civil Society in Intercultural Dialogue took place on 23rd May 2006.  Speakers in this forum included members of the Civil Society Project and members of the Jean Monnet Research Project on Intercultural Dialogue.

Consensus has been reached on the following conclusions:
(1) Economism and consumerism have gone too far, therefore there is a return to spirituality.  Religion is a powerful force in this regard,  assisted by dialogue - which must be prioritized.
(2) Multiculturalism is manifested through provisions in the treaty for full dialogue, thus having a model of democracy.
(3) Intercultural-dialogue can be fostered through education:
by providing training for teachers, facilitators, social workers and students.  Everyone should be encouraged to rejoice in one another's feasts and occasions.
(4) There must be soul-searching.  One should understand oneself to get to know the other better.
(5) There must be legitimate respect for the human rights of the majorities, minorities, and the individual.  True family values should be the guiding principle. All religions agree on the values of the family.
Programme

2.1.2. Publication of the second Civil Society Project Report
In July, the EDRC published a comprehensive Report titled:
The Family, Law, Religion and Society in the European Union and Malta.  This comprises 22 reports covering the family in a changing scenario locally and internationally. NGO experts and academics working in the field gave papers which complement each other.  This Report was the basis of the Civil Society Project Conference as all those who registered for the Conference were given a copy of the Report in advance of the Conference.
List of EDRC Publications

2.1.3. Civil Society Project Conference
This year's Conference was titled: Family Values in the European Union and Malta.  It was held on 19th September at the Radisson SAS Bay Point Resort, St. Julians.  The Conference was very well attended, and among the audience there were Government officers, representatives of unions, the private sector, NGOs, national commissions', University lecturers and members of the Civil Society in general.

Following the views of our guest speakers during the morning session, the audience was given the opportunity to participate and voice its views in small workshops. Each participant identified the main area of interest and chose one of four workshops namely: The Family and the Law in Malta; Ethical Issues in the European Public Sphere; Work/Life Balance; and Women and Family in the Mediterranean Region.  This was very lively and the participants contributed enthusiastically.  Then each chairperson of the workshop shared the results with the whole audience.  This was followed by a discussion and the conclusions.
Programme
Workshop Results

2.1.4. Civil Society Project CD
Nearly 800 CDs have been distributed to Conference participants, contributors to the Project, to all European Documentation Centres (EDCs) worldwide and all ECSA Presidents.  The CD incorporates this year's Civil Society Project Report and the papers of the Conference. 

The Project is part-funded by the European Commission for the first three years of its five-year duration.  Then the EDRC needs to raise the balance of the funds from public interest-minded public and private sources, and will be entirely dependent for the last two years of the Project on these sources.

2.1.5. The Third Year of the Project 2006/2007
This year' s Project is focusing on Ethics in Business in Europe and the Mediterranean.  The theme is set against the broad background of the Project to date, namely the place and role of values in the Acquis Communautaire.  Last year's Project asked what common or shared values emerge or can emerge from dialogue within the European Union and between the European Union and its Neighbours with regard to the Family?  This year's Project asks: What shared values emerge within the EU and between the EU and its Neighbours in the sphere of Business?
The same process as last year's, i.e. the papers published into a Report, a Conference and circulation of CDs will follow. 

2.2. MESA  SEMINARS

The first Jean Monnet MESA Seminar this year was on Tuesday 11th April 2006 at 1730hrs.  The speaker was Mr Justice Anthony E. Borg Barthet Judge at the European Court of Justice.  The title of the talk was Community Competence in Criminal Matters - From Case 82/71 to Case C-176/03 Commission v Council. In this seminar Mr Justice Borg Barthet traced the enlargement of Community competence in the criminal field, beginning from 82/71 where the Italian Government had pleaded the total absence of Community competence in criminal matters through the Greek maize case and others up to the recent Berlusconi, Pupino and Environment Framework Decisions.  Mr Justice Borg Barthet discussed the way that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has expanded, through general principles, the Community's competence in this field, as well as the limits set to it. 

On Thursday 20th April 2006 Dr David Fabri a senior lecturer in the Commercial Law Department in the Faculty of Law at the University of Malta, gave a paper in a MESA Seminar titled: Adventures in screening and transposition: A Case Study: the EU Consumer Protection Acquis (1990-2004).  The speaker gave a very personal insider account of the transposition of the consumer protection chapter of the EC acquis into Maltese law.  In 1999, Dr Fabri was asked by government to lead the screening and transposition of the consumer protection acquis in the period leading to membership.  The speaker shared his experiences in consumer law and policy in Malta and the EU from the application in 1990 to membership in 2004.  The speaker threw light on the intensive screening and transposition processes that Malta underwent in the pre-accession stage.  How were they carried out?  What was it really like to be there?  Are there any lessons to be learnt?  Where are we now?  Read the paper

The Cross, the Crescent and the Croissant: Religion in a Multi-Cultural European Union was the theme of the seminar to be presented by Prof. Peter G. Xuereb, MESA President, EDRC Chairman and Jean Monnet Chair Professor of European and Comparative Law on Thursday 4th May 2006.

On 1st June 2006 Dr Antoine Cremona Lecturer of Arbitration at the Faculty of Law at the University of Malta presented a paper on Arbitration/Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in the Judicial Landscape of the EU. Read the Paper.

Mr Michael Cohen, Mayor of Kalkara; Vice-President of the Local Councils Association (Malta); Committee of the Regions (CoR) DEVE Commission PES Group Coordinator; and CoR Rapporteur on the Thematic Strategy and Draft Directive on the European Marine Environment presented a paper on:
The Thematic Strategy on the Protection and Conservation of the Marine Environment and the Marine Strategy Directive: 
A Local and Regional Perspective.  The seminar took place on Tuesday 20th June 2006. Read the Paper

2.3. JEAN MONNET RESEARCH PROJECT ON 
       INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE
Research Meetings 
In this Project the EDRC is one of four partner institutions coordinated by Prof. Antonio Papisca at the Centre on Human Rights and Rights of Peoples, University of Padova.
Two Research Meetings were held in Malta on 23rd May and 18th September, when different members of the Malta team   presented the first draft of their paper. A discussion on the papers followed. 

The culmination of this Project would be a final Conference in Padova in March 2007 followed by a publication with the papers presented by all Project participants.

2.4. EUROPE CLOSE TO YOU FAIR
The European Documentation Centre is participating in the Europe Close to You Fair which is being organised by the European Commission Representation in Malta.  This is going to take place from the 9th to the 11th November 2006 at the City Gate, Valletta, Malta.
Other participants in the event include: Culture & Media, EUPU,
EURES, Euro Info Centre, Euro-Mediterranean Youth Platform
Europe Direct, European Consumer Centre, European Parliament,
Forum Malta Fl-Ewropa, FTZ, MCST, Ministry of Education,
NARIC, NECC, and SOLVIT.  Activities during the event include visits by school children, Q & A Sessions, and debates. 
Programme

3. EUROPEAN DOCUMENTATION CENTRE (EDC) 
3.1. Accessions List 1st April - 31st August 2006
3.2. Accessions List 1st September  - 26th October 2006

4.NEWS AND EVENTS

4.1. MALTA
Vodafone Economic Forum: Growth of Financial Services in Malta as an EU Member and Future Potential
Date: Tuesday 31st October 2006
Place: Radisson SAS Bay Point Resort
Time: 1215
Organised by the Malta Economic Update with the collaboration of the Malta Financial Services Authority.
Programme
Registration Form

The Malta Solvit Centre Newsletter
The Malta Solvit Centre is one of the EU Info Points, and it has been established since May 2004 within the Commerce Division.
As part of the Centre's awareness campaign, an electronic newsletter is being produced for the first time to inform and update the readers about the Solvit's success stories.
Read the newsletter

4.2. EUROPE 

International Seminar: Global NATO, the Riga Summit and European Security: Are Europeans Ready for Global Tasks?
Date: 16-17 November 2006
The Cicero Foundation, (Paris) is organising this seminar, aiming to discuss the three main issues of the coming NATO Summit in the Latvian capital Riga on 28 and 29 November.  These issues are:
(1) Should NATO assume a more global role and deepen its 
      existing relationships with countries such as Australia, New
      Zealand, South Korea and Japan?
(2) Should NATO be enlarged with the former Soviet republics 
      Ukraine and Georgia, against the overt opposition of Russia?
(3) Are European NATO members capable and willing to play a 
      global role alongside the US?
Programme
Registration Form

4.3. INTERNATIONAL
CALL FOR PAPERS

"European Values: Visions of Union and Competing Voices"
A Themed section of PORTAL, Journal of Multidisplinary International Studies (July 2007)
Edited by Dimitris Eleftheriotis, Murray Pratt and Ilaria Vanni
Deadline: 31 January 2007
This special themed section of PORTAL reflects on the EU's move toward (re-) discovering, establishing, and promoting shared cultural values.  The issue seeks to unveil the historcal contexts and traditions in which current inventions of cultural identity occur.  The issue also aims to discover and listen to competing voices adn visions - be they cultural, social, political, textual, collective or other that give different shape to Europe and its models of union, commonality, belonging and value.

Contributions may come from practitioners in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Cultural Studies, and International Studies.
Contact: Dr Murray Pratt
E-Mail: Murray.Pratt@uts.edu.au

5. GRANTS AND COURSES
1st Advanced Colloqium on Better Regulation
Organised by the Centre for Regulatory Governance at the University of Exeter
25-26 January 2007
Deadline for proposals: 6th November 2006
Call for Proposals:
The colloqium will bring together graduate students, academics and policy-makers to discuss better regulation topics including:
- impact assessment;
- consultation;
- market-friendly alternatives to regulation;
- simplification;
- regulatory compliance and 
- the link between regulation and competitiveness.
Scholarships and eligibility:
The University of Exeter is offering eight travel scholarships to students currently enrolled in a doctoral programme in EU member states and associated countries.  MA students and researchers in independent research institutes can apply, but preference will be given to doctoral students, as well as those graduates who have completed their thesis in the last twelve months.
Read more

N.B. If you want to include an activity in the next newsletter kindly send an e-mail to doris.mangion@um.edu.mt

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